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Jacquelyn Johnston said that 484 dogs had come in from July 17 to July 24, which amounted to 100 over capacity.

“Imagine,” she wrote, “and we only have 267 kennel spaces.”

Johnston’s email didn’t surprise veteran Miami-Dade animal activists who’ve watched shelter intake numbers stuck in the 34,000-37,000 range for years — and the euthanasia rate climb as high as two-thirds of intake.

But it caused outrage among many who got involved for the first time last year to support Pets’ Trust Miami, the grassroots movement whose members thought until earlier this month that they’d persuaded Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami-Dade commissioners to fund a voter-supported initiative aimed at raising $19 million for animal welfare.

The group, overjoyed that the commission set a “no kill’’ goal for the county, worked to place a non-binding question on the November 2012 ballot asking whether voters would approve a tax-rate increase amounting to $20 for the average property owner.

The latter, said Kathleen Labrada, Animal Services operations and enforcement chief, is sorely needed in a community where owners fail to sterilize or train their pets and let them wander without identification.

“Pets are considered disposable,’’ she said. “Every day, we have 70 to 100 surrenders. As long as they consider their private issue a public problem, we’ll be in the same situation. Don’t turn in your puppy the first time he chews a shoe.’’

But on July 16, the mayor and commissioners abruptly withdrew their support, opting to maintain the current tax rate for another year because, they said, their constituents don’t want higher taxes. Gimenez pledged to find $4 million for animal services.

“I have been very supportive of our mission to save animals, and have recommended a major 40 percent boost to our Animal Services Department’s budget this coming year to support the initial phase of a No-Kill Plan,” Gimenez said in an email Friday. “I would also like to encourage our residents to adopt a shelter pet — doing so will help contribute to the solution.”

Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo, among the strongest anti-tax voices on the panel, held to that view even after visiting the shelter’s euthanasia room.

“We know that public fundraising works,’’ he said in an email. “It is inexcusable not to attempt this established approach before increasing property taxes.”

He said that commissioners have approved placing fundraising solicitations in all county correspondence with taxpayers, and thinks it should include the amount that the property owner would have paid with the higher tax rate.

He said he wants to raise awareness of the “Animal Services Foundation through the development of public service announcements and through aggressive marketing strategies.”

If the Pets Trust and Animal Services Director Alex Muñoz have already suggested some of his ideas, said Bovo, “the difference now is that I am strongly championing them to achieve a successful outcome.”

Adding a property tax to assist animals “is not appropriate at a time when we are asking other, more vital, departments in county government to live within their means,’’ he said.

Among them: the county’s fire-rescue department, which stands to lose 144 members without a tax increase.

Rowan Taylor, Firefighters Local Union 1403 president, said that his members have partnered with the Pets’ Trust and advocates of the public library system, which also faces deep cuts, “because we want to make it clear we’re not competing for funds. Firefighters are pet lovers.”

“Our firefighters are citizens, and we understand importance of a vote,’’ he said. “A lot of firefighters voted for [the Pets’ Trust question] and we feel like the people spoke.”

Labrada, the shelter’s chief of operations, said that while overcrowding led to Friday’s high euthanasia number, the shelter is working hard to find homes for all the animals, especially those with contagious respiratory infections who have to be isolated.

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